Neil Tobin, Necromancer: Near Death Experience

Interactive. Site-specific. Dead-serious fun.

Where did this come from?

Near Death Experience is the first of its kind: interactive theatre thatmakes talking about mortality approachable and even fun. In many cases, it's going further by inviting guests into actual funeral homes and cemetery chapels.

But that's not to say it's entirely unprecedented. The reason playwright and solo performer Neil Tobin uses the title "Necromancer" is because for more than 15 years, he has been exploring the use of interactive, magical and psychic performance elements to help communicate serious subjects.

His best-known production,Supernatural Chicago, ran every week for 10 straight years—making it one of the longest-running solo shows in the city's history—as it immersed audience members in sometimes-unsettling historical stories of the paranormal. Site-specific, it drew some of its power from its setting within a reputedly haunted landmark building. “Is it real? Or isn’t it?” Chicago Tribune

In his next show, Palace of the Occult, he transported audience members to 1933 Berlin as the personal guests of Erik Jan Hanussen, a Jewish psychic performer struggling to survive during the rise of the Nazis. “Highly recommended—The fascinating true story related by the trickster is enough to leave us spellbound.” Windy City Times

Near Death Experience goes a major step further. Not only does it blend interactive, site-specific theatre with magic and psychic entertainment to tell stories and touch emotions, it actually has the potential to inspire audience members to pursue more fulfilling lives.